


Confusion

by TriggerHappyChocobo



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Not specifically Promptis but can be read as, Status Effects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 12:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12864309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriggerHappyChocobo/pseuds/TriggerHappyChocobo
Summary: Prompto gets injured in battle, earning him a big hit of confusion. Hallucinations and hugs ensue.





	Confusion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chikelo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chikelo/gifts).



> I wrote this a while ago as a gift for Chikelo ~ Now I finally have my own AO3, I can upload it :3
> 
> Currently a standalone fic, but I do have an idea for a second chapter so that may get uploaded at some point ^-^

Ugh, killer wasps.

Of all the enemies they had to face, Prompto hated killer wasps. Regular wasps where bad enough, but giant wasps with ‘killer’ in the title? Now  _that_  was bad.

But hey, it was what it was, and right now the most important thing was to dispose of them as soon as possible.

They wasted no time getting stuck into battle, Noctis summoning his engine blade and warping towards the first enemy, sword embedding itself instantly into the beast’s thorax. It fell to the ground dead, riling up the other wasps as they realized their target was stronger than anticipated.

“Nice one, Noct!” Prompto beamed, giving his buddy the thumbs up as he summoned his guns and took aim. Ignis only shook his head, tutting. He’d told the Prince so many times to analyse the enemy before rushing in head-first, but… Well, he had to admit, he was slightly impressed with how quickly Noctis had taken it down. Taking his assassins daggers in hand, he ran over to give Gladio some backup.

Two separate fights broke out. One being Gladio and Ignis, Iggy swiping at the beasts with his poison-laced weapons and Gladio finishing them off once the poison had slowed them down, and the other being Noctis and Prompto, following a similar attack pattern of Prompto shooting them down and Noctis delivering the fatal blow.

Things were going very smoothly; despite being vastly outnumbered, the Prince and his entourage were very much in sync when it came to battle. Soon the number of enemies had dropped drastically and they found themselves nearing the winning end of the fight. Maybe it was that unspoken air of victory that caused Noctis to unwittingly lower his guard, totally oblivious to the beast within his blind spot that was readying itself for attack behind him.

“Noct, look out!” Prompto shouted, seeing the wasp making a beeline for Noctis with its stinger poised and ready to do maximum damage. Before Noctis had the chance to process what was happening, Prompto flung himself in harms way, pushing Noctis aside and biting back a scream as the stinger embedded itself into his shoulder instead.

Noctis swore loudly as fell aside, partly due to the awkward angle he’d landed at, but mostly because his best friend was now curled up on the floor in pain because of his own shortcomings. He sprung back to his feet, ignoring the sharp throb of what felt like a twisted ankle, and rammed his sword straight through the wasp’s skull. It fell to the floor twitching, and Noctis noticed instantly that it’s stinger was missing.

A sharp gasp from the gunslinger was enough info for Noctis to realize where it had gone.

He rushed over to Prompto, rolling him onto his back, eyes widening at the sight before him. Prompto’s hands were slick with blood, grasping frantically at the stinger that had pierced so far into his shoulder that it was protruding from the other side. The parts of his clothes surrounding the wound were stained a deep crimson.

Noctis gagged slightly at the sight; he’d never been good with blood and there was _so damn much of it_. He shouted for the others to come and help and, upon hearing the urgency in his voice, they wrapped up their half of the battle as quickly as they could.

“Shiva’s tits, what the hell happened here?” Gladio exclaimed. At Ignis’ instruction, he knelt down next to Prompto and prized his hands away from the stinger, apologizing as the blonde let out a cry at the added pressure against the wound.

“Easy there, Prompto,” Soothed Ignis, before ordering Noctis to search the Armiger for an Elixir. “We don’t want to remove the foreign body until there’s a curative at the ready.”

Prompto nodded, screwing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth. He knew what was coming next, and he knew it was going to hurt. So he braced himself, taking in a deep breath as Gladio tightened his hold and Ignis took hold of the stinger.

With a sharp tug, Ignis yanked the protrusion from his shoulder. Prompto fought weakly against Gladio’s grip as a strong wave of agony coursed through him, back arching from the ground and heels digging into the dirt in desperate attempt to move away from the source of the pain. It took two attempts to fully remove the stinger, and Noctis frantically poured the curative over the gaping wound the moment it was free.

The torn flesh rapidly knitted together, leaving no trace of an injury ever being there, yet Prompto was still screaming, raw and confused. The pain had subsided almost instantly once the elixir had done it’s work, but it hadn’t done anything to prevent the feeling of fog clouding his mind. He tried to focus on his companions around him; he could hear Noctis, voice laced with panic and concern, a very obvious contrast to the calm voice of Ignis. Gladio wasn’t talking, but Prompto could still feel his hands holding onto his wrists, grip looser than before but still a grounding presence that Prompto tried desperately to cling onto.

“Prom? What’s wrong?!” Noctis was asking, hand gently shaking his now healed shoulder.

Prompto tried to answer, he really did. But he could barely think a coherent sentence in his daze, let alone say one. He could feel his focus slipping, was vaguely aware of Ignis explaining to Noctis about the lingering status effects of killer wasp stings.

“Inflicted with confusion… Delirious…. No more Remedies left”

These are the last words he picked out before his mind misted over completely.

* * *

Prompto was cold, struck with an icy chill that seemed to freeze him right to the bone. He blinked rapidly, pressing his hands to his throbbing head and rubbing his eyes in attempt to clear his foggy vision.

He instantly wished he hadn’t.

He gasped in shock as he saw hundreds of MT’s surrounding him in orderly rows, strung up by their legs from the strong beams of a warehouse. They were all deathly still, eyes dim as if they were deactivated, arms swinging lifelessly above their heads.

Looking down - up - at his legs, he realized he was tied up in the same way. Strong rope bound both of his ankles together, leaving him suspended in the air just like the units around him.

It didn’t take long for the panic to set in, and Prompto desperately grasped at the ropes as if clawing at them would miraculously free him. His chest felt heavy - had it always been this hard to breathe? The thick stench of oil in the air didn’t help, making the air feel stuffy and almost painful for his lungs.

He frantically scanned the building for some hint of where he was, but the lighting was so dim and his eyesight had never been the best. But when he finally spotted it, the large sign hung from the furthest wall away from him, his blood ran cold.

‘Discarded Magitek Units’

Prompto covered his mouth, eyes widening as it sunk in where he was. This was an MT graveyard; a place where faulty, defective units were left to rot.

The fear riled him up again, and he began flailing uselessly against his restraints. He had to get out of here right now, he had to leave he had to leave he had to leave he had to-

The rope snapped, and he fell face first into an oil puddle on the ground.  
  
_'Am I really that heavy?!’_  he thought as he wiped the worst of the oil from his face with his sleeve, spluttering at the foul taste that was still left on his lips. He scrabbled to his feet, pushing past the dormant MTs and heading for the edge of the room. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, stumbling regularly as he slipped on the oily floor.

He scaled the entire room twice, looking for the exit but to no avail. He’d just began his third lap of the building when a voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

“You might as well accept it”

Prompto whipped his head round to the sound, seeing a single MT with it’s eyes alight.

“You might as well accept it” it repeated again, voice monotone yet somehow full of defeat - of reluctant acceptance.

“No, t-there has to be a way out!” he stammered, running his hands along the wall as though it would reveal some kind of secret passage.

The MT carried on like a broken record, each repeat making Prompto’s stomach sink as despair threatened to overcome him.

Another MT’s eyes flickered to life, then another, and another, until the each unit appeared to be active, basking the place in an eerie red glow, voices becoming an unbearable crescendo as they all said the same thing.

“You might as well accept it”

Prompto gripped his ears and backed up against the wall, but it did nothing to stop the noise; the sound was so loud that it hurt. He dropped to the floor as he tried to shake away the awful truth that the MT’s were telling him.

YouMightAsWellAcceptItYouMightAsWellAcceptItYouMightAsWellAcceptItYouMightAsWell-

“Prompto!”

Wait, was that Noctis?

“Prompto! Prompto please, snap out of it!!!”

What was Noctis doing there?!

“Wake up!”

* * *

A harsh slap to the face snapped Prompto closer to reality, followed by a softer, lighter touch against his stinging cheek. He tried to get away, disorientation still strong, but found he couldn’t move.

_'They’ve strung me up again. Crap, I’ll never escape!’_

He pushed against his restraints, though this time they felt less like rope and more like… hands? He kicked one of his legs free, a raspy, broken voice exclaiming “Let go of me!”

His foot collided with Noctis’ stomach, knocking him back with an ungraceful thud for the second time that day.

“Never realized the kid had this much strength in 'im” Gladio remarked, adding more weight to the arm he was holding down. Ignis was also struggling to keep grip of Prompto’s other arm, more so since he’d kicked free of Noctis’ hold and given himself more leeway to move.

“The confusion ailment shouldn’t last much longer.” Ignis told them, but he sounded uncertain - it had certainly been going on a while and he still showed no sign of calming down.

Noctis crawled back over towards them, ignoring Ignis’ instructions to hold Prompto’s legs down again. Instead, he went to lay with Prompto, angle awkward as he wedged into the space between Prompto’s body and where Gladio was crouched holding down his wrist.

Noctis wrapped an arm around Prompto in a tight, restraining hug, and used the other to run his fingers delicately through the messy mop of blonde hair, in the way he knew always calmed him down back when they were younger - from way back when he’d have panic attacks due to the social pressures of being the Prince’s best friend.

Slowly but surely, Prompto stopped putting up a fight, relaxing into Noctis’ touch as some of the tension in his body disappeared. Yet again, he focused on Noctis; on the way his chest rose and fell with rhythmic, steady breaths. He was safe, he wasn’t in that horrible warehouse surrounded by MT units and strong-smelling oil with no way out or -

He choked back a gentle sob as he buried himself further into Noctis shirt. He wasn’t sure why he was crying, why he was so shaken. The vision was just an after effect of the sting, he knew that! But something about it all was really unsettling. He tried his best not to cry, he really did, but he still couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

“Is he…?” Gladio began, but Ignis held a hand up to cut him off. He stepped back to give the pair some space and gestured for Gladio to follow, telling them “We’ll be waiting back at the Regalia. Oh, and my apologies for slapping you earlier, Prompto. We were running out of options and that seemed like the swiftest way to get you back with us.”

“S'cool, t-thanks” he muttered, smiling genuinely to himself despite the fact he was still crying; of course it was Ignis who had slapped him!

As the others walked away, Noctis held Prompto closer, one hand still running through his hair as the rubbed against his back. They stayed like this, unspeaking, until his sobs had faded into nothing more than the occasional whimper.

“Better?” Noctis asked, feeling Prompto nod against him. He took this as his cue to get up, extending his hand towards Prompto and pulling him back to his feet.

Prompto rubbed his eyes with his hand, looking sheepishly down at the ground in embarrassment. A quick glance upwards saw Noctis looking at him expectantly, as if he was waiting for Prompto to start talking.

Realizing Prompto wasn’t going to say anything first, he asked “Prom, what happened? Your eyes were glazed over, and you were scratching at your legs while shouting about MT’s! Iggy said it was just a hallucination but still… you were kinda freaking me out.” The worry in his voice was painfully evident “Plus… It was kinda my fault that it happened. Heh, sorry about that by the way. I really owe you one.”

Prompto avoided the question and dismissed the apology; heck, if it meant that Noctis was safe he would jump in front of a killer wasp attack as many times as he had to.

But Noctis wasn’t willing to let it slide. “You’d better talk to me about it at some point, Prom! I know, we’ll stay in a hotel tonight, that cool? Call it my way of apologizing.”

“Dude, Gladio is never gonna agree to that!” Prompto impersonated Gladio’s voice: “Camping is good for you, Princess! It’ll toughen you up a bit!”

“Shut up!” Noctis laughed, punching Prompto playfully against the non-bloody shoulder. “I’m covered in dirt and you’re covered in blood - there’s no way I’m washing in a river  _again_  tonight!”

“Eh, can’t argue with that.” Prompto agreed with a smile.

But despite his grin, he was still feeling a little uneasy with what he had just seen, and he knew Noctis would likely quiz him more about it again later. Maybe it had just been a hallucination, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a deeper meaning to it all. He adjusted the band he wore over his right wrist - a habit he would do whenever he was deep in thought. Then something clicked within his mind, like a distant memory trying to resurface after many years.

_'My codeprint, what if…’_

He shook those thoughts away as he looped his arm around Noctis’ shoulders, dragging him towards the car. He really didn’t want to think about his mysterious branding, not until he was alone at least. All he wanted at that particular moment was a warm shower and a soft hotel bed.

And besides, he was sure that even if it was an ill omen, with his best buddy by his side they would face it together, no problem-o.


End file.
